Dezius: “STAGEWAR is a band that thrives on everyone doing what they do best”

Welcome to Polismagazino.gr. Introduce the band in few words.

Dezius: Hi. The band is called Stagewar. We have been around since 2003, we come from near Frankfurt, Germany and we are a metal band with a good dose of rock n’ roll.

When did you start as a band?

Dezius: Kimon and I met in the school band as teenagers. That was over 25 years ago. We already had a band together before STAGEWAR. Due to the changes of the other band members, STAGEWAR emerged when we were around 16 years old.

What is your first musical memory?

Dezius: One of my first memories was seeing my older brother perform with the school band and I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do.

Who are the members of the band?

Dezius: Me and Kimon have been playing together for a very long time. Josef has been playing drums for us since 2011. He joined shortly after we released our debut album. And James plays the bass. A long-time friend of ours. He played with us before and then unfortunately had to drop out. But now he’s back at it again. He’s also an incredible tattoo artist and draws all of our artwork too.

Describe to us your career in music to date. Were there any decisive positive or negative influences?

Dezius: As I said… the band has been around since 2003. We were all very young and took the train to gigs, for example. We always tried to make everything possible.
Because we were so young, we didn’t have enough money to make professional recordings. So we did demos first and performed live.
Everyone always thinks that playing in a band is easy. But there are so many influences that have to work together. It has to be humanly appropriate, you need the necessary money and of course something like a bus to travel. It takes a lot of understanding between each other and of course you also need songs and you can’t lose courage. The fact that we have lived at STAGEWAR for over 20 years shows me that there must have been many positive influences on our path.
I am very grateful for that. I try not to focus too much on negative influences. This doesn’t help anyone.

Are you “scared” by success or failure?

Dezius: Yes and no. As an artist, you naturally want to share your art with the world. Personally, I see it as a success to be able to be on the road with this band for so long. We met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. That alone is the greatest success. But you always strive for something bigger and with that comes disappointment. Personally, I don’t find fulfillment sitting in the office for 8 hours. But like everyone, I have to pay my bills. The only thing that makes me sad is the thought of wasting so much time because of work and everything around it when I could have put so much love into music.

Tell us a few words about your latest release.

Dezius: Our last release was an EP called “Interlude to self-destruction” and we wrote the songs during the Danger to Ourselves sessions.
This is only available on a 10 inch red record and also limited to 300 pieces. You can find some more on our Bandcamp page.
For me, this EP shows very well how diverse we can be as a band. For example, the song “Dead again” is a rock n’ roll song and “What’s wrong” is a melodic metal song.

Who edits the lyrics and music?

Dezius: Our rule is that everyone does their part. We examine the music or lyrics together and then refine it until it fits. Everyone gives what they can. STAGEWAR is a band that thrives on everyone doing what they do best.

What are your future music plans?

Dezius: We are currently working on several projects. Of course, we want to play live. But we are currently recording our fourth studio album and we want it to be awesome. We are also working on an old punk project that we want to devote time to and we also have to make a video for it. So, the calendar is very full and there is a lot to do. Of course, I’m particularly looking forward to the new album and playing the new songs live.